McKey Anne, Huntington Annette
Royal New Zealand Plunket Society, Wellington, New Zealand.
Contemp Nurse. 2004;18(1-2):145-51. doi: 10.5172/conu.18.1-2.145.
Childhood obesity is becoming a topical issue in both the health literature and the popular media and increasingly child health nurses are observing preschool children who appear to be disproportionately heavy for their height when plotted on standardized growth charts. In this paper literature related to childhood obesity in New Zealand and internationally is explored to identify current issues, and the implications of these issues for nurses in community based child health practice are discussed. Themes that emerged from the literature relate to the measurement of obesity, links between childhood and adult obesity and issues for families. A theme in the literature around maternal perception was of particular interest. Studies that investigated maternal perceptions of childhood obesity found that mothers identified their child as being overweight or obese only when it imposed limitations on physical activity or when the children were teased rather than by referring to individual growth graphs. The implications for nursing in the area of child health practice is discussed as nurses working in this area need an understanding of the complex and often emotive issues surrounding childhood obesity and an awareness of the reality of people's lives when devising health promotion strategies.
儿童肥胖在健康文献和大众媒体中都已成为一个热门话题，越来越多的儿童健康护士注意到，在标准化生长图表上，一些学龄前儿童的体重与其身高相比显得过重。本文探讨了新西兰及国际上与儿童肥胖相关的文献，以确定当前的问题，并讨论这些问题对社区儿童健康护理实践中护士的影响。文献中出现的主题涉及肥胖的衡量、儿童肥胖与成人肥胖之间的联系以及家庭问题。围绕母亲认知的文献主题尤其令人关注。调查母亲对儿童肥胖认知的研究发现，母亲们只有在孩子的肥胖对身体活动造成限制或者孩子被嘲笑时，才会认为自己的孩子超重或肥胖，而不是参考个人生长图表。本文还讨论了这些发现对儿童健康护理实践领域的意义，因为在此领域工作的护士在制定健康促进策略时，需要了解围绕儿童肥胖的复杂且常带有情感色彩的问题，并认识到人们生活的现实情况。
